[wisconsin_cur]

Just saw this on craigslist. The new asking price is 220,000. If we were looking this would be great.

Link

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just in case I need to say it, I don't know these people, I'm not involved in the sale in any way.

[pup55]

Hey, not too far from Dubuque. Also pretty close to frankthetank.

There is probably $25K worth of scrap steel on that farm, if you tore down anything that is metal and sold it all off for the current rate of $393 per ton for scrap, even more if you can get someone to buy the dairy equipment and implements for something.

Instead, might be good for a vineyard/wine operation. No pesky dairy cattle to feed, buildings should be easy to convert to liquid processing, 5 acres tillable plenty to plant quite a few vines... growing season a little short though.

Drawback: If I recall my Wisconsin geography correctly, there is absolutely nothing, including trees, hills, or other features, for 800 miles to the northwest of that place to slow down that stupidly cold wind when it starts to blow in January. I am also thinking not much firewood of any type.

$225K... If I thought I could get rid of my place in suburbia, it might be good. Get Mrs. Douglas to live the Green Acres life, wait until the four days of summer to work on my gentleman farmer tan...

[wisconsin_cur]

just goes to show,

When I looked at it I saw all the things that I do not have currently.

When other people look at it they remind me of what I do have.

[roccman]

I'll kick in 20K

Need 9 more.

Serious!

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 't')hey remind me of what I do have

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'v')irtually untouched by Ice Age glaciers

[WisJim]

I grew up a bit north of there, and always liked that part of the state, although Gratiot is kind of far south for me. Monroe is a nice town, has a decent older brewery and if I recall they have a cheese factory that is about the only place that still makes Limburger cheese. Lots of rolling hills, creeks, etc., in that area. But I am still not accustomed to the prices that land and farms goes for these days. (We paid about $112 an acre back in the 1970s for 120 acres of land with no buildings, 40A tillable, 60+ woods, and other useful stuff.) You could grow what you needed to eat, lots of buildings, might be worth checking into for someone wanting to move to southern Wisconsin.

[Revi]

Beautiful land. It sounds reasonable to me for $200,000. Is the agricultural economy doing ok in Wisconsin? I'm sure that this farm is going for that price because it's got only 5 tillable acres. I'm sure that it will be bought. I think it's better that the house has no insulation or sheetrock. You can insulate it and know what is happening with it. Then add on solar hot water etc.

If you could pay cash for it and move there I imagine you could have a very nice farm. 40 acres is managable.

If you had some other money coming in you could live there and do some farming without worrying about making the bills every month.

[Plantagenet]

Its sounds nice, but its not ideal.

The local Hunting and fishing probably isn't great. No trout...no grayling....no char....no Salmon. No Caribou. No Moose. No Mountain Sheep. No bears.

No mountains. No wilderness.

The nearest decent skiing area is in Colorado. The nearest salt water is in California. Some giant cities with millions of potential refugees just a few hundred miles away.

And its not in an oil producing state, so the local and regional and state economy is just going to get worse and worse as oil rises to $150 - $300 barrel in the next few years.....

It does looks nice though....it would be a great place if you wanted to hunker down and live quietly somewhere a bit away from the rat race.

PS: Check out some places in Alberta. You can make big bucks working for the man at the tar sands there (two weeks on---two weeks off), live in a rich Canadian province where exporting oil is making the province ever richer, and and earn enough to buy yourself a nice farm too. Good hunting, mountains, natural environments....

[Revi]

I agree with you Plantagenet, but I lived a summer in Iowa. The land is super fertile there. When you plant things they come out looking like the pictures on the seed packets! There aren't any stones in the soil. None!

I think I would miss the woods and mountains here in Maine, and the coast, but the midwest could be a great place to be post peak.

It's hard to get a piece of land for most of us ordinary people any way you figure it. Having a farm might be a great thing if you can make it happen.

Things like hay and food will be valuable commodities again soon.

[Heineken]

Don't overlook the need to finish the interior of that house. Lotsa work and $$.

Don't know what condition all those farm structures are in. Can't always tell from photos, but they look sound.

I'd want a little more than 40 acres, but it's certainly in the ballpark.

I'm a tree person so I'd want some forest. Also a decent-sized pond. But I agree the pics are pretty.

Overall not a bad deal, at first blush. Not bad at all.

God do I love land. I could look at ads like that all day (and sometimes do).

[kpeavey]

my insurance litigation should be settled in the next couple of months, probably the day after this place sells.

This is the kind of thing I'm looking for.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'I')ts sounds nice, but its not ideal.

The local Hunting and fishing probably isn't great. No trout...no grayling....no char....no Salmon. No Caribou. No Moose. No Mountain Sheep. No bears.

No mountains. No wilderness.

The nearest decent skiing area is in Colorado. The nearest salt water is in California. Some giant cities with millions of potential refugees just a few hundred miles away.

And its not in an oil producing state, so the local and regional and state economy is just going to get worse and worse as oil rises to $150 - $300 barrel in the next few years.....

It does looks nice though....it would be a great place if you wanted to hunker down and live quietly somewhere a bit away from the rat race.

PS: Check out some places in Alberta. You can make big bucks working for the man at the tar sands there (two weeks on---two weeks off), live in a rich Canadian province where exporting oil is making the province ever richer, and and earn enough to buy yourself a nice farm too. Good hunting, mountains, natural environments....

[Heineken]

Vision-master has a point. What would you do with those huge silos, that gigantic equipment, those enormous buildings? This farm is designed for the Oil Age, not the future.

Yes, you could sell stuff off as scrap---at a loss.

[kpeavey]

frm what I gatherm the huge silos, 2 of them at least, draw rental income.

Sell off the tractors and heavy equipment.
Use the money to finish the house
the barns can be used in any number of ways
-livestock
-woodshop
-workshop
-more housing for the people needed to service 40 acres organically

and get some trees in the ground-fast
fruit
nut
lumber
firewood

I think it can be done

[Heineken]

Yes it can be done, if you have lots of help.

But for me, a place like that poses too many complications and too much dependency on others. I'd go for something simpler---land, pond, garden, small house in decent shape, a few storage sheds, chicken coop, and fruit trees already started, maybe. Sort of what I have now, except the house is too big and fancy (not my fault; my parents' fault).

Keep it simple.

[mercurygirl]

I wonder if there would be much interest in a Sell or Swap forum. I don't know how these things work, but perhaps it would be too much of a pain for the owners.

Shannymara, I thought you were settled there to stay?

I know that jdumars' place is still for sale because I just checked on it. It's in my region and surely is a sweet little place. Apparently he dropped the price again.

[Heineken]

Hope you're OK, Shannon.

I know about those phone calls.

[azreal60]

You want to hear the really funny thing.....

I was searching for land the other day. That popped up near the top of my list as possibles. That's only about an hour away from where I live now. I find it ironic that you guys are discussing something I was seriously considering looking into.

Unfortunately they want to sell now, and my credit is no where near good enough yet. But I'll keep looking into it. It might still be on the market in a few months the way things are going.

[WisJim]

Being a little familiar with that part of the world, and having purchased a farm farther north in Wisconsin with a house in need of major work, and with a barn and other buildings, some years ago, this place appeals to me. I look at the usable buildings and house requiring work as beneficial. I can never seem to have enough storage or workshop space, and being able to wire, insulate, and finish the house would be a good thing, and then there is the mobile home to live in while working on the house--we lived in ours while working on it, and that is not good!

Our buildings now are used to house workshop and garage space, storage space for garden tools and supplies and equipment, and storage of building materials that we have gotten free or cheap and know that will need sooner or later.

I also did a quick look at the wind resource for this area, and a lot of this part of the state has winds that are adequate for home or farm sized wind generators. There is a wind farm a bit north near Cobb and Montfort.